News & Commentary Archive

“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime,” says the proverb. Through his nonprofit, Fishing for Families in Need, Lucas Metropulos PPS’15 not only found a way to help kids and families, but the environment too.

Writing in the New York Times today, columnist Shmuel Rosner labeled non-Israeli liberal Jews that are becoming more estranged from modern day Israel, as “fair weather fans” that Israel both can and should ignore. He is dead wrong on both counts.

In the U.S., couples with daughters are somewhat more likely to divorce than couples with sons. Many scholars have read those numbers as evidence that daughters cause divorce. But new research from Duke University suggests something quite different may be at play: Girls may be hardier than boys, even in the womb, and may be better able to survive pregnancies stressed by a troubled marriage.

It is well documented that children with obese parents are at greater risk for obesity. In a new study, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Cornell University, and Duke University looked at how different kinds of family associations affect obesity, specifically how sibling relationships affect a child’s weight. They not only found a correlation between parents and child, but also discovered a link between having an obese sibling and a child’s obesity risk, after adjusting for the parent-child relationship.

The American Political Science Association (APSA) has given Sanford School of Public Policy Assistant Professor Nick Carnes two awards for his book, White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making.

Not long ago, my cousin was asked by his children if he might lose his job. They had overheard him describing how several people in his neighborhood had recently lost their jobs, and they became worried that dad might be laid off, too.

Thankfully, my cousin is in no danger of losing his job, but millions of others are not so fortunate.

A report on gun violence released today by the office of Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-IL.) draws heavily upon the research of Sanford School of Public Policy professors Philip J. Cook and Kristin A. Goss.

There is no doubt that the takeover of large parts of Iraq and Syria by the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) presents a major security issue for the United States and the entire region. But let's not make the mistake of labeling ISIS a mere terrorist group that can be addressed with the same counter terrorism tools that have been used against al Qaeda and its affiliated groups since bin Laden and his supporters were dislodged from Afghanistan in 2001.